The best hack for heating your home doesn’t add a single dollar to your power bill
Making your home warmer doesn’t have to start with a heater – a simple addition or tweak to your windows makes a bigger difference than you think. A whopping 40 per cent of heat in the home gets lost through windows, so preventing this can significantly transform the feel and temperature inside.
It’s particularly important if you’re running a heater of any kind, as that heat will stay in the room for longer, helping to reduce running costs. To stop it escaping, all you need to do is hang some curtains or, if you already have them, switch your sheers to thicker blackout or thermal options.
Thick curtains kept closed on cold nights or when you're using the heater keeps heat in. iStockphoto
“For many people, a curtain is just a curtain, but the ability for it to seal the window influences its impact on the room. When it hits uncomfortable levels in summer or winter, if I close the curtains [in my home office], I will see a change in temperature by one to two degrees,” Kel Lupis, home energy efficiency specialist with the CSIRO, told nine.com.au.
“If I’m trying to heat this space with an air conditioner and I have single-glazed windows that are about six millimetres of glass thick, the outside temperatures are just going to leach and it is a fight the warmth can’t win. If I close high-performance curtains, it helps retain warmth and stop that effect. The better the seal and the thicker the curtain, the better the performance.”
For curtains to work this way they need to be closed but that doesn’t mean they need to stay that way.
If the sun is coming in through the windows during the day then leaving the curtains open brings natural warmth and light into the room. So closing curtains at night when it’s coldest and more people are at home is the way to go.
While curtains alone will help the home retain warmth, the higher above the window and the closer to the ground they are, the better.
“There are curtain boxes [also known as pelmets, that can be installed] above the curtains to reduce that heat loss. If the curtain goes all the way to the floor, that’s another way to benefit. But in those situations where that is not possible, you’ll still get the benefit from those curtains if they are closed, particularly if there’s no sun coming through that window,” Dani Alexander, CEO, UNSW Energy Institute said.
It’s also worth thinking about the width of the curtain and where you install hooks for the rod.
The thicker the curtains and the wider and higher they are, the better they work at keeping warm air in and cold air out. iStockphoto
Double glazing is the best option if you own your own home and the budget allows. iStockphoto
“The concept is to create a seal around the window frame, including the glass. It is great if we can cover the sides too and sometimes it is just a matter of pitching the curtain past the width of the window so warmth can’t get in,” Lupis explained.
However, if you own your home and the budget allows, double glazing is the ultimate window treatment for keeping heat in during winter and heat out during summer.
“The gold standard when it comes to windows is really double glazing. When we look at the figures, in excess of 30 per cent of heat loss in winter can be avoided if you have double glazing. But of course, that is a significant investment if you already have single-glazed windows,” Alexander said.
Surprisingly, there is one situation where curtains actually outperform double glazing.
“We have a concept called “thermal bridging” where conductive materials like aluminium frames reflect what is happening outside. If you touch an aluminium [window] frame in winter, it will be quite cool. Big heavy drapes with a pelmet can outperform double-glazed windows [with aluminium frames] at night. [In this situation] double glazing is for when you want daylight and the view,” Lupis said.
Curtains are also considered better than the budget double glazing substitutes on the market and can be just as affordable.
“Films are difficult to generically recommend. If you try and do it yourself it can be a disaster, and landlords may not feel comfortable. They are typically a summer solution to repel solar load, but we don’t want to eliminate the benefits of the sun striking that window in winter,” he said.
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